Entanglements: Tomorrow’s Lovers, Families, and Friends, Sheila Williams, ed. (MIT Press 978-0-26253-925-8, 240pp, $19.95, tp) September 2020.
Artificial intelligence, genome tampering (eugenics), sex bots, and other forms of technology descend upon the middle class in
Entanglements
Asimov’s. Originally launched in 2011 by MIT Technology Review,
Twelve Tomorrows is an annual anthology series that explores the role of technology in near and far futures. This year each author has written an original story revolving around the central theme of relationships, or “entanglements” as made infamous by Jada Pinkett Smith and Twitter memes. In these carefully constructed worlds, entanglements are built, destroyed, and sustained with AI and tech that serve as neutral forces, even if utilized by villainous tropes (greedy scientists, fundamentalist groups, ambitious women, etc.). As Sheila Williams’s introduction promises, technology might fill in the weaknesses of a wilting r